The threat of an unemployability crisis is looming if the current mismatch between the skills South Africans have and the jobs that are available is not addressed.

Unemployability is quickly becoming the root cause of unemployment, says Johannesburg Business School executive education and programmes director Tumi Nkosi.

Transforming the workforce into a digitally savvy one is a panacea for the looming crisis and, if all role-players do not move swiftly in reskilling for the digital age with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, such as cloud computing, Big Data, data security, artificial intelligence and machine learning, fast becoming integrated in the workplace, South Africa might find itself with an “idle population, incapable of filling thousands of jobs”.

South Africa, with an unemployment rate of 34.9%, or 7.8-million people, is vulnerable to changes in advanced economies, particularly across Europe, as it has strong ties to these countries.

With these developed markets becoming digitalised, South Africa risks “falling off the global economic wagon”.

“A digitally literate population is seemingly our only hope of remaining a global player and the springboard for companies looking to enter the African market,” she says, highlighting the need to have a digitally astute workforce.

“Whatever the scope or focus of a company, all members of staff need to be digitally fluent, and those in leadership positions need a thorough understanding of what it means to lead successfully in the digital era,” Nkosi says.

However, reskilling for a digital future would mean that people will need to work collaboratively with machines and technology.

Machines have been edging humans out of workplaces since the First Industrial Revolution, making menial jobs redundant, while simultaneously creating new roles that required more skill.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, with its cyberphysical tools and systems, is expected to follow a similar path, but this time it will cause losses of both menial and highly skilled jobs, and change the roles of jobs.

“Today, technology already can do some jobs better than humans. Drones are delivering packages faster, self-driving vehicles are already on the road and self-service terminals at supermarkets are already replacing cashiers.

“Simply put, more people will need to be skilled backend users for digital interfaces, inputting commands and algorithms. Software engineers, coders and content producers are some of the key roles that come to mind when thinking of the present day workers collaborating with technology,” Nkosi points out.

However, the creation of a digital workforce requires people to first understand the benefits and pitfalls of working alongside emerging technologies.

Educational institutes will play a critical role in this transformation.

“Business schools have been trying to fulfil the role of digital transformers for a number of years now. However, far too many of them are accessible only to executives and larger companies because of their steep prices and limited intake,” she says, noting that the Johannesburg Business School, based at the University of Johannesburg, has been trying to buck this trend and make education accessible to individual entrepreneurs and small, medium-sized and microenterprises.

Further, a more flexible, future-fit approach is essential to ensure that executive education, in particular, is more specific to organisational strategy and individual roles.

Organisations of all sizes recognise the need for a paradigm shift in how they are organised and managed, and from a skills point of view, their focus is on getting ready for digital transformation, which requires digital literacy.

“Like all other educational institutions, business schools need to adapt to this reality and cater for the changing needs of their clients, their employees and society as a whole.”

It might be a more logical approach to train people for a digital working world much earlier in life than just creating a digital workforce at tertiary level, she points out.

She highlights the Department of Basic Education’s recent rewrite of its Life Skills curricula, adding digital literacy and the importance of working alongside Industry 4.0 technologies within the workspace.

“It is an encouraging sign of the country’s future: we will have a generation of young adults who will form the core of a South African digital workforce,” she concludes.